Shortly before the SMPTE 2017 Technical Conference & Exhibition Bruce Devlin shared his thoughts with TV Technology about the SMPTE Standards process.

TV TECHNOLOGY: It seems as if SMPTE has made an effort to accelerate its standardization process, within the bounds of what is allowed for a due-process standards body. What has been driving this effort? What steps have been taken? Are there others that can be made to expedite the process further?

BRUCE DEVLIN: SMPTE is perceived to have a velocity problem with its standards, so we did a little investigation and comparison with other organizations and discovered that a large problem was the perception of how long it takes to do a standard. The fast standards that are well-prepared, non-controversial and well-managed can go from proposal to publishing in around six months and there are examples in the IMF suite of such documents. Other standards that are breaking new ground and have been subject to design discussions and prototype interoperability testing take longer.

SMPTE's process is designed to deliver a quality, stable standard that has a long life. When you're breaking new ground, this can take time for the standard's working group to reach agreement. The time taken to negotiate agreement can vary. When folks are keen to get products into the market or to get projects up and running, this can be frustrating for some people and can give the impression that SMPTE's process is slow. I believe, though, that SMPTE's process delivers good and stable standards.

Not everyone needs a full standard though. Often what's needed is a specification that constrains one or more standards for a specific need. SMPTE is introducing a new specifications process that is being trialled with the U.K.'s Digital Production Partnership. The goal here is to have a more nimble process that encourages the user community to look at the business applications of the standards to create interoperable ecosystems that deliver media and entertainment more efficiently.

TVT: What are the most important lessons you have learned from development of the MXF and IMF standards? Will you be able to apply them to the larger task of being SMPTE Standards Vice President and ensuring the standards process momentum continues?

DEVLIN: The most important lesson that I have learned is that there are different users of a standard and that SMPTE should continue moving in a direction that makes it really easy for its standards customers, if you like, to get at the data. One of the most important customer types is the developer. Most of SMPTE's standards today will result in software being written for CPUs or GPUs or TPUs or FPGAs. I hope to help SMPTE make the data in its standards more accessible for developers so that it's easier to implement compliant, interoperable products and services.

Twenty years ago the industry was battling physics to make innovative products. Today, if you can imagine it, then you can build it. So we're looking at ways in which SMPTE can help make it easier for anyone in a development team to get it right quickly. We already have projects with sample code and software schema, but I am sure that we can do more.

TVT: What one or two things are you most looking forward to in your new SMPTE role?

DEVLIN: The two things that I am looking forward to most in the new role as SMPTE Standards Vice President are actually two different takes on the same theme. Firstly, I want to make access to standards and specifications for SMPTE's customers easier. Secondly, I want to create a communications ethos where we tell the industry what we're doing and why it's relevant at both a technical and a business level. The process of making a standard might be considered rigid and boring, but the products and services that are built on those standards are exciting and game changing. I'm not sure that standards development will ever be fun, but I hope to bring a bit of "buzz" to how SMPTE tells the world what we're up to.

TVT: Can SMPTE continue to remain relevant as a standards body as media technology increasingly is gobbled up, morphed and squirted out by other larger industries and giant corporations?

DEVLIN: SMPTE is the only organization that specifies the end-to-end ecosystem for delivering photons that arrived in the movie camera to your eyeballs. In an upcoming episode of Bruce's Shorts I explain that there are around 150 SMPTE standards needed to deliver a movie to you when you sit at home and watch it on Netflix. At the conference we have speakers from Google, Microsoft and Amazon with representation from all the major broadcasters and studios. Media technology is actually fragmenting into loosely coupled software services that need to be joined up for the end-to-end multi-platform ecosystem to work. SMPTE is the only organizationwith the technical reach, geographic reach and mix of skills to do that. I believe SMPTE will become more relevant and not less.

Shortly before the start of the SMPTE 2016 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, NewBay editors spoke with Bruce Devlin about his session “Security in the Cloud With IMF.”

TV TECHNOLOGY:How has security evolved alongside new distribution channels of content?

BRUCE DEVLIN: Security seems to evolve based on the revelation of vulnerabilities and also based on design against threat. I see some excellent work in companies like Amazon who are building a security ecosystem that appears to be very strong, but is not necessarily compatible with their competitors’ implementations. I think we will see a couple of major developments coming soon—first is "best practice" for media organizations to be aware of the different security requirements for their organization, and secondly will be the technology to address those requirements, e.g. encryption authentication and trust.

TVT:Should content owners just assume that some security breaches are the cost of the convenience of new, automated versioning technology?

BD: Like all aspects of a business, if you're informed, then you can make good decisions. There will never be (and never has been) perfect security. Content theft has occurred forever. What has changed now is the ability to do it on an industrial scale from a distance. The canny businessman accepts that breaches will continue to occur and will put in place operational practice, good system design and technology to mitigate the effects of the breach. Just like protecting our homes—it is a practical impossibility to keep all burglars out, but we don't have to leave a pile of $100 bills in the hallway to welcome them.

TVT:The advantages to one master/automated versioning are obvious, but is there any kind of security advantage to having content exist in multiple masters for multiple formats (if something is pirated, it's not “reformattable” for every possible display)?

BD: That is an astute observation. By splitting the content up into separate chunks and allowing multiple keys to be used, this is one strategy where the effects of a breach can be mitigated.

TVT:Assuming all parties adopt the recommended protocols: Since recent history tells us there's no such thing as absolute, 100 percent security, where would the weakest link (the most vulnerable part of the chain) be?

BD: It is often the humans who circumvent the best practices because it takes too much time or is just "a pain."

TVT:Is there life for IMF outside of film and television production?

BD: Yes, absolutely—many different types of business and security content need the sorts of tools in IMF for both versioning and tracking. I think it will have a long and rich life.

Bruce is the founder of Mr. MXF Ltd. and co-founder of The Media Bay. He has several consultancy roles including chief media scientist at Dalet and advisor to media companies on technical and business issues.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Bruce Devlin, chief media scientist at Dalet and governor of SMPTE U.K.:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
B.D. 23.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
B.D. Interoperability as a business requirement, IP transport, HDR, VR and drones.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
B.D. AIMS announcing more members and DPP-NABA common delivery specs. 

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
B.D. Yes, both and being big money savers for users. 

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
B.D. Big screen 3D.

BASINGSTOKE, ENGLAND—Technology standards save time—an imperative in today’s market. That’s the upshot of Bruce Devlin’s response to becoming the first governor of the U.K. chapter of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. The formation of SMPTE U.K. Region was announced shortly before the holidays. Devlin, chief media scientist at Dalet, jocular co-author of the MXF format and the guy who warms up for the NAB Show with a triathalon, was elected governor. He recently provided TV Technology with a perspective on the intention, purpose and benefits of standards, and how the needs of the U.K. and U.S. markets differ.

TV Technology:Mr. Devlin, What will be your first move as governor of this new SMPTE Region?

Devlin: To support and promote the existing team that has created the excitement in the U.K. region. In SMPTE’s 100th birthday year, I hope to promote the full and diverse events calendar that the U.K. region has created.
The calendar is interest in its own right and it also promotes the U.K. as a center of excellence in the media industry. SMPTE can sometimes be seen as a U.S.-centric organisation. One of my goals is to help promote the fact that SMPTE’s membership has the same international reach as the standards that it creates.

TV Technology:To what do you attribute the growth of SMPTE in the U.K. from 83 members in 2012, to more than 500 this year?

Devlin: The team uses SMPTE’s three pillars of Membership, Education and Standards as the core of its activity planning with the added motivation of creating a diverse and locally motivated regional membership. Although geographically tiny compared to the USA, the U.K. has distinct local groups that work to grow the membership, arrange events and make SMPTE feel real regardless of which media center you work in. There is more to the U.K. than just London and the U.K.’s success has been due to spotting this and applying enthusiasm.

TV Technology:What standardization role will SMPTE have in the U.K. (say, versus the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society, the Digital Television Group and the Digital Production Partnership, (which is in a strategic alliance with the North American Broadcasters Association)?

Devlin: SMPTE’s role is mainly to create the generic infrastructure standards that power the industry. Local organisations like the DTG, DPP, BKSTS and others use SMPTE standards as the basis of a regional working practise where options in a SMPTE standard can be removed without prejudicing interoperability.
For example, in the U.K., our frame rates are all based on multiples of 25 fps and the complexity of Drop Frame. Non-integer audio relationships and 2:3 sequence are things that just aren’t needed in the day-to-day operational interchnage of streamed, broadcast and file based content.

TV Technology:What is the value of a standard?

Devlin: A cynic once told me “if you can’t win the market, win the standard.” In today’s environment, where it’s all about APIs and multi-vendor software environments, standards are more important than ever. The ultimate goal is that consumers get great and compelling media powered by profitable content creators who use tools and services created by profitable vendors.
A good technical standard allows the size of the market for tools and services to be quickly grown. The tools and services can be written in virtual isolation with a very good chance of interoperability at the moment that those tools and services are deployed.
Without a standard, then vendors have to do bilateral interworking with a vastly greater amount of engineering being performed for very little overall gain in terms of market size or value.

TV Technology:I see the phrase “open standards” used in situations that don’t appear to be truly open, particularly with regard to IP-based media technologies. What do we really mean by “open standard?”

Devlin: Open is often used to describe the access to the standard. Open does not mean free and does not always mean public. It does mean that if you want to get at the standard or want to participate in the process, then you are able to do so.
SMPTE standards are open because there is a due process that is open to everyone who wants to participate. Standards development can be expensive and all things today have to be funded somehow. Many standards organisations charge a fee or have rules on how to participate in order to manage the complexity of the process. Some organisations (e.g. MPEG) restrict participation to national bodies. SMPTE, by comparison, produces standards proposed by individual members. Both organisations produce open standards.

TV Technology:Is it financially conceivable for broadcast media vendors to build to a truly open standard?

Devlin: It should be possible for any vendor to build to a well-written open standard. The world, however, is not becoming any simpler and one of the challenges facing all standards bodies (including SMPTE, MPEG, IETF, W3C etc) is how to write down those standards such that the complexity is contained, the flexibility is retained to hit the user requirements, but ambiguity is removed.
Many have argued that plain English is one of the worst ways of doing this, but no one has yet replaced English—or sometimes French—as a better way of expressing these international standards.
Not all standards are “heavy-lifting” ones. MXF may be huge but smaller standards like encapsulating a new VANC packet can be trivial to document and implement. There are several groups working at ways to improve the accuracy and the development speed of media standards. We should see some updates towards the end of 2016 on whether there are viable new approaches out there.

TV Technology:In the United States, SMPTE is heavily invovled in the development of standards for IP-based media transmission, processing and distribution. Is there a demand for this type of technology in the U.K. and other EU nations as well?

Devlin: Anyone still waiting for IP to arrive will be surprised to see that it’s already here. Streaming proxies, faster than real-time downloads and IP backhaul are all in regular use in the U.K. as well as in the USA
What’s missing is the complete IP facility. SMPTE has plugged many of the standards gaps with work on synchronisation and encapsulation. AMWA has created documents on componentised transport. Interop tests are happening in the U.K. as well as the rest of the world with the BBC’s media lab providing a showcase for what can be done with today’s (and tomorrow’s) equipment.

TV Technology:How do media industry demands compare between the United States and the United Kingdom?

Devlin: Despite being neighbours separated by a common language (and spelling), there is a huge commonality between U.K. requirements and USA requirement. Given that many of the U.S. media giants’ international distribution divisions are located in the U.K., you could argue that as a territory, the U.K.’s requirements are, “everything that you could want in the USA or Europe with the addition of 30 languages and a couple of frame rates for every title.”
The U.K. media industry is a technically challenging and stimulating place to work. I am very proud that the SMPTE members thought me good enough to the “the Governor.”

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. and LONDON — The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers announced that the Board of Governors formally approved the creation of the SMPTE U.K. Region and appointed Bruce Devlin, chief media scientist at Dalet, to serve as its first governor. (Devlin is pictured at right.)

The SMPTE U.K. section’s growth from 83 members in 2012 to more than 500 members in 2015. Any section reaching the 500 member milestone is eligible to petition the board for creation of a region, which will provide that section with formal representation on the board.

“The widespread support for the SMPTE U.K. section and its work, evident in rapidly increasing attendance at meetings across the U.K., reflects the growth occurring across the Society as a whole,” said Bill Miller, SMPTE membership vice president. “SMPTE now has more than 6,400 members worldwide, and students represent the fastest-growing group of members. As we move into the Society’s centennial year, it is exciting to see that our work is relevant and important to the newest members of our industry.”

Devlin had previously been elected by the membership to serve as 2016-17 governor for the Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central, and South America Region. The board has now appointed Siegfried Foessel, head of the department of Moving Picture Technologies at Fraunhofer IIS, to assume that role while Devlin will represent the SMPTE U.K. Region on the board.

“The growth and influence of the SMPTE U.K. Section are due solely to the dedicated involvement of our members, who have helped us to expand our activities across the country to meet the demands of the broader U.K. media communities,” said Peter Weitzel, SMPTE membership director and secretary/treasurer for the SMPTE U.K. Section.

Re-established in 2012 and chaired by Chris Johns, chief engineer of broadcast strategy at Sky, the SMPTE U.K. Section has seen a high degree of interest and support from individuals and companies across the creative, manufacturing, broadcasting, and service organizations. The Section holds regular meetings across the U.K. and each month in London, providing ample refreshments and giving members time to network and the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics with industry experts. The Section also holds an annual one-day seminar in London and Salford.

Members of the SMPTE U.K. Section have a strong history of supporting students, new graduates, and new members of the industry, and the SMPTE U.K. Region already boasts its first student chapter. The inaugural meeting for the newly approved SMPTE Student Chapter at Southampton Solent University was held in November when the university celebrated the installation of Dolby Atmos in its 3D cinema. During the event, Richard Welsh, CEO at Sundog Media Toolkit and the current SMPTE Governor for the Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central, and South America Region, presented university student Louis Arrigoni with the award for Best Use of Creative Virtual Reality Technology in Storytelling. The award recognizes Arrigoni’s short film “PhaseShift,” presented at the SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival during the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition.

“SMPTE has seen a surge in student membership, thanks to the charitable work of members led by Bill Miller, who has donated funds to allow students to join SMPTE for free in their first year,” Welsh said while speaking at his alma mater. “The SMPTE Student Membership Challenge is one of the most important initiatives in the Society, as these young people are the future of our industry and, of course, SMPTE itself.”

The efforts of Johns, Weitzel, Welsh, Miller, Devlin, and their colleagues continue to bolster the success of SMPTE in the U.K. The Section program schedule is available now at SMPTE.org/UK.